Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Hello! I hope everyone is enjoying this gorgeous day! As for me, I'm working all night again for the next two nights. Unfortunately, it is quite busy at the moment, so this will have to be a brief posting. As promised I wanted to share with you all that I received my pillow and love it! Here it is:

My swap partner ended up being Bonnie over at Bonnie's Blurbs. She is a seasoned quilter and prefers "scrappy" quilting over any other form. There was a very nice and quite funny letter hidden inside the pillow. In this letter, Bonnie told me that my pillow is the third one she created for the swap. She didn't realize that we would be assigned a specific person and also stated that she had some difficulty working with the browns and greens that I like so much, as these are not her favorite colors to work with.

Bonnie, if you're reading this, I just wanted to let you know that I really like the pillow you made for me! I will admit that it isn't exactly what I expected to receive. With everything I've seen from the few meetings I attended last year, I thought that my swap partner would end up creating something very bright and wonky. What you made is much more toned down and that's okay. I actually like it better. The fact that you made something following your preferred technique is like the pillow telling a story about your love for quilting. The piecing is done very well and the waviness in your quilting is gorgeous! Thank you for a beautiful pillow that will be a nice addition to my sewing room!

Just to fill everyone in, the partner I made "El Pollo Loco" for absolutely loved it. It apparently brought her to tears. I never expected such a reaction, but I am quite touched to know that something I made impacted someone so much. She actually told me that she has three chickens that she keeps as pets, which I had no knowledge of. She also said that the pillow matches the new color scheme in her sewing room very well. Jenny, I am glad that you are enjoying your pillow!

With all of the above said, I think that it's safe to say that my first swap ever went very well. I am looking forward to participating in many more of these. It's very special having something that someone made just for me. I think I finally understand just how much it means to others when I give them things that I've made specifically for them.

Anyways, enough of the mushiness. I have to get back to work. Take care and please remember to wag more and bark less.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

I don't know how many of you were aware that I was in a quilting guild for a few months last year. I stopped going after I became overwhelmed with school, work, and sewing obligations for friends and the guild. I really enjoyed the guild and felt so bad for giving it up. It truly is a great outlet for me to meet others who share the same interests as me and is also an excellent source of inspiration for future projects.

It's been about a year now since I participated with the Triangle Modern Quilt Guild and decided to renew my membership for the year. Today there was a pillow swap that I signed up for a few weeks ago. When I signed up for the swap it didn't occur to me that out of all the weekends I would have to cover for a vacation at work that it would end up being the same weekend I was looking forward to begin attending guild meetings again. Of course I decided to participate in the swap anyways and Jeremy was kind enough to take time out of his day off to attend the guild meeting long enough to drop my swap partner's pillow off and pick mine up. It was exceptionally kind of him to do this for me, especially considering that he had to drive to Chapel Hill for the meeting. I think I'll owe him a dinner or something extra special for helping me out. So anyways, here's the pillow I made:

Jenny over at Craft Canary was my swap partner. I remember her from the meetings I attended last year. The projects that she shared with the group were always among my favorite. She and I have similar taste because she also seems to embrace wild and crazy styles and color choices. Her request for this swap was that she wanted something bright and funny. She also stated that she prefers striking color differences in value and tone as opposed to subtle gradient changes. As you can see in the above photo of what I call "El Pollo Loco", I am pretty convinced that I definitely stuck with her requests. After finishing this pillow I honestly fell in love with it. It is so soft and squishy! I hope she will enjoy it for years to come!!!

For those of you who are wondering what I received, I am still in the dark about who made my pillow or how it came out. Jeremy is having dinner with friends then stopping by my job on his way back home to bring me the pillow. I can't wait to see it! I will be sure to update you guys tomorrow on my pillow.

Now for all of you Halloween lovers out there, here are a few pictures of a very early Halloween wall hanging I just had to go ahead an make:

I really like the way this project is looking. I still have a bit more quilting to do and then I can bind it. The thread I'm using is glow-in-the dark so this quilt looks especially awesome at night!

Okay, the guys at work are being quite persistent today, which is making me busy as I try and type this. I shall go for now. Don't forget to wag more and bark less.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

OMG you guys......It has been so crazy around here. Me and my big brother Otis have had lots of fun watching our daddies destroying the house. For some reason they decided that it would be fun to rip up the floor in the kitchen. I'm here to tell you that it WAS fun, a lot of fun!! It made the house smell funny and it also got really dusty after Mama Pug cut a hole in the ceiling in the living room and put a light in, which really added to the messiness. There was stuff everywhere for me and Otis to sniff and taste, but my daddies kept telling me not to eat anything from the floor because the stuff they called glue would make me sick. Here's a picture of me trying to offer my assistance in the kitchen.

I'm standing on the floor after the sheet vinyl was taken out. Daddies had to scrape the left over paper and glue off the concrete before they could put tile down.

They worked really hard and didn't pet me much because they were so busy. It was okay though because I had fun exploring the debris with Otis and my sissies the kitties.

Take a look at what the kitchen looks like now......

Now I don't know about you, but I liked it when it was torn apart and messy. My daddies seem to really like the new stuff though so I guess as long as they are happy I will try to like it. Now if you'll excuse me.......since the mess is all cleaned up I have to go entertain myself by harassing my big brother and my sissies. Maybe after that I'll go search for sticks and my new favorite snack, worms. After I finish all that I will climb up onto the back of the couch and take a nap.